How Are MSTY Dividends Taxed?
Built from MSTY's own payment record and published figures, as of 2026-08-18. We are not tax advisers and this is not tax advice; a professional who knows your situation is the right stop before decisions.
YieldMax MSTR Option Income Strategy ETF publishes an estimated return-of-capital share for every distribution it declares. Across the 32 recorded payments in our coverage window, the fund paid $10.2889 per share; weighted by payment size, 65.3% of that was estimated return of capital ($6.7228 per share), and $3.5661 per share was estimated income. 1 payments were marked 100% return of capital and 4 were marked 0%.
The Split, from the Fund's Own Figures
| Recorded payments | 32 |
| Total paid per share | $10.2889 |
| Estimated return of capital | $6.7228 (65.3%) |
| Estimated income portion | $3.5661 |
| Payments marked 100% ROC | 1 of 32 |
| Payments marked 0% ROC | 4 of 32 |
Weighted by payment size across the coverage window shown on the MSTY page, where every payment's ROC estimate is listed row by row with its source.
How the Estimate Moved Across MSTY's Record
A weighted average hides its own shape. Across the 32 MSTY payments we hold, the sponsor's return-of-capital estimate ran from 0.00% on the July 2, 2026 payment to 100.00% on February 26, 2026, with a median of 94.69%. The record spans 217 days, from January 8, 2026 to August 13, 2026.
Splitting that record in half by payment order, the older 16 payments carried a weighted 72.4% return of capital and the newer 16 carried 56.2%, a shift of 16.2 percentage points downward. These are the fund's own per-payment estimates, revised at year end, so a shift is as likely to reflect a change in what the strategy earned as a change in accounting.
In basis terms, each MSTY payment reduced a holder's cost basis by an average of $0.2101 per share on these estimates, or $6.7228 in total across the record. Basis reduction is deferral rather than exemption: once basis reaches zero, further return of capital is taxed as capital gain in the year it is received.
| Sponsor estimate for the payment | Payments | Cash per share |
|---|---|---|
| no return of capital | 4 | $1.1488 |
| under half | 9 | $2.7090 |
| half or more, short of all | 18 | $6.1294 |
| entirely return of capital | 1 | $0.3017 |
Grouped from the per-payment estimates listed row by row on the MSTY page, as of 2026-08-18.
What MSTY's Own Payment Record Adds
Tax character is one half of the question and the payment record is the other. Our MSTY record holds 32 payments between January 8, 2026 and August 13, 2026, on a weekly schedule of 52 a year. The most recent was $0.1809 per share, ex-date August 13, 2026 and paid August 14, 2026. Nothing further is declared on our record.
Across trailing twelve months the payments ran from $0.1549 on July 2, 2026 to $0.5553 on May 7, 2026, a spread of 258%. A spread that wide matters at tax time as well as in a budget: the taxable amount for a year is the sum of what actually arrived, not twelve times a typical payment. Ex-dates landed in Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug over the trailing two years, which is the schedule an estimated-tax calculation has to follow.
Our record cannot yet say whether MSTY's payout is rising or falling: Growth needs two complete calendar years of payouts, or two full years of coverage. Our MSTY record starts 2026-01-08 and holds no complete calendar year yet across 32 payments. On the record we hold, the rolling comparison can first be computed on January 8, 2028 and the calendar-year comparison on January 1, 2029, so this figure fills in around January 2028 as long as MSTY keeps distributing on its current schedule. No calendar year in our record is complete, so there is no annual total to set against a tax year yet.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is MSTY's distribution taxed as dividend income?
Mostly not, on the fund's own estimates. Return of capital is not income when received: it reduces your cost basis instead, which defers tax until you sell (and can turn into capital gain then). The non-ROC portion of an option-income fund's payout is generally ordinary income, not qualified dividend income, because option premium is not a dividend. The exact split for your tax year arrives on the 1099-DIV and the fund's annual tax supplement, and it can differ from the per-payment estimates shown here.
Why does a high ROC share matter?
Two reasons. First, it means the headline distribution overstates what the fund earned in the period: part of the payment is your own capital coming back. Second, basis reduction is a deferral, not an exemption; once basis reaches zero, further ROC is taxed as capital gain immediately.
Where do these figures come from?
From the fund's own published per-payment estimates (Section 19(a) notices), which we record alongside every distribution on the MSTY page. They are estimates by design; the fund's year-end tax documents control.
Full payment record: MSTY distribution history. Other payers whose tax treatment we cover are on the dividend tax index, and the sourcing rules are on the methodology page. Free to cite with a link to dividendtable.com.